454 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
and if it had not, then the Council should p^o to Parliament 
for increased power (hear, hear), Avherehy the Council 
should control the schools so far as the teaching was con¬ 
cerned and the appointment of an independent preliminary 
examination. Now, as to the examiners, he found that there 
was a suggestion that medical examiners should be dropped 
from the list. He had had some correspondence and con¬ 
sultation with gentlemen who were upon the board, and he 
thought that the time had not yet arrived, but the difficulty 
might be met by a suggestion which he had recently seen, 
that teachers should be appointed examiners. A man in 
])ractice was not quite competent, probably, to meet the re- 
([uirements of the day in regard to some subjects, more espe¬ 
cially in the highest branches of physiology and pathology 
and organic chemistry, and a veterinary teacher might he 
instructed to examine upon these subjects. The proposal 
simply was that the teacher should sit at the board to 
examine the students before one or two assessors, as the case 
may he ; that he would have no vote, but that the assessors 
should determine whether the examination is satisfactory or 
not. These suggestions were quite new' to him. 
Professor Spooner said he made them twenty years ago. 
Professor Williams assured the meeting that it was his 
desire to see the profession advance in every way. He did 
not wish to see any disruption in the profession. 
Mr. Peter Taijlor wished to know what was meant by the 
examination being divided into three periods and held on 
different days. 
The President said he believed it was intended by Mr. 
Ernes to be three separate days—consecutive days. 
Mr. Ernes said that w^as not exactly his object. He 
thought that the examination, instead of being on the whole 
of the subjects at once, should be divided, so that a young 
man should be prepared from day to day, or from time 
to time, or from year to year. He did not exactly consult 
the College of Surgeons, but they had a preliminary ex¬ 
amination on physiology and anatomy, and then in a twelve- 
month after they w'ent on to a further examination. Well, 
the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons might by-and-by 
do the same; hut as the time w^as not yet come for that, they 
might still divide the examinations, and hold them at dif¬ 
ferent periods, say three w'eeks or three days, or wdiatever 
they liked to name. He left that specially for the Council 
to decide upon. He knew^ they w'ould be more effective if 
they were divided. It might he taken in this way that the 
examinations should he oral, Avritten, and practical. Well, 
